Reform ride 'Farage effect' to claim seismic council success

HISTORIC WIN AS RIGHT-WING PARTY ENDS EIGHT YEARS OF TORY CONTROL ON AUTHORITY

- By EDDIE BISKNELL and JON COOPER

REFORM UK have taken control of Derbyshire County Council to end eight years of Conservative control and leave other parties by the wayside.

Labour had been looking to echo last year’s General Election success and regain council seats and control of authorities throughout the country - but that hope fell far short in Derbyshire, as it did nationwide.

Reform UK had stood six candidates in 2021 and put out a full slate of 64 this time around, and from a starting point of zero councillors ended the day in a turquoise tsunami, gaining 42 elected members.

The party did not put forward a Derbyshire-specific manifesto but has ridden a national political movement led by leader Nigel Farage, who claimed on a visit to Denby that the county council was “broken” and that Reform would “fix it”

Reform’s victories included a win for Alan Graves, who is Reform’s group leader on Derby City Council, in Aston.

It does not yet have an earmarked proposed leader and this will be decided at a later date.

This has also left Reform with a majority of nine as the largest party by 30 councillors.

The Conservatives, who had been in control since 2017 and had 40 councillors, have ended this year’s elections with 12.

They also lost council leader, Barry Lewis, in a tight race in Shirland & Wingerworth South in which he lost by 62 votes to Reform’s Paul Parkin, with the Green Party's Frank Adlington-Stringer finishing a close third by 26 votes.

The Conservatives also lost cabinet member for highways Charlotte Cupit in Swanwick & Riddings, and cabinet member for infrastructure and environment Carolyn Renwick in Staveley North & Whittington.